FACTIONS
THE NEWT-FOLK: A nihilistic cacophonic nation of capitalist cheese haters and diabolically occultist grotto-people. They trade i n footcandles, food and blood. THE TRASH HALFLINGS: Feces covered knee-biting cave-dwelling hobbit folk. THE OGRES: Tr covered in fat that worships the false icons of the goose race. RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
Roll a d6
1 –
d4 Traumatised Carnivorous Ent Bonsai. Tiny skittering leaping trees with scratching cutting limbs and little mouths hungry for blood.
Awakened tree 2 –
d20 Wax Kindermorphs. White formless gawking golems. Child-shaped, made of wax. Tongues lolling out and single broken slender chains hanging from their mouths. They try to eat images. Each is missing a locket with a miniature portrait inside. If allowed to ‘eat’ them, (forced down their wax throats) they will assume the form of the image and become tractable. Soft-Skull has the lockets.
Mud mephits.
3 –
d6 Escaped White Pack Apes. Either they have gone crazy from the darkness and SoftSkull playing Edward Greig, or they have just decided to make a break for it and start eating people. They climb well and attack in three dimensions with hands and chunks of rock. AC-14 HD-2 Atk-d6 Bounty-200 4 – d6 Babyskull TrogloSpecie. Slumped, thickset, low shouldered dwarfish shapes with baby skulls on top, the spines embedded in the coiny mass. These low-denomination stumbling coin-golems are made to stop people stealing coins underground, and because if the money can move itself then copper coin becomes worth transporting.
Apes.
4 –
d6 Baby Skull TrogloSpecie. Slumped, thickset, low shouldered dwarfish shapes with baby skulls on top, the spines embedded in the coiny mass. These low-denomination stumbling coin-golems are made to stop people stealing coins underground, and because if the money can move itself then copper coin becomes worth transporting.
Troglytes.
5 –
d4 Snake-Tank Monkey Undine. These water elementals have been forced into the shapes of bad baboons by Soft-Skull. Water flows through them but the shape remains. They are full of Deadly Stygian Snakes. As they attack they scream ‘free me! Burn the book!’ in voices like bathroom pipes.
Mud mephit + poisonous snake combo
6 –
d6 Cloud Cradle Geisha Golems. Wraps of the highest quality spidersilk with Turin-Shroud screaming faces of young women staining the weave. Edges embroidered with chain-linked spiders. Cutting them releases the trapped spirit. And voids the warranty. They fly.
Ghosts.
7 - The PC’s
stalker.
8 - The PC’s greatest
rival.
9- An i
ndifferent rival.
10 - Roll twice, the two parties are indifferent to each other.
11 - Fight! Fight! Fight! Roll twice on this table.
12 - Roll again, the dead bodies of the result are here.
RIVALS
1. M'Lady de Hautdesert (
fleshseeker ghoul) , a beautiful noblewoman with pale skin and black hair, attired only in black and served by giggling
maids (
commoners) in half-face masks. She seeks to corrupt or purchase souls.
- Orso Falierian (wererat) , a carnivorous rabbit accompanied by his masked venetian ghouls (2 decrepit skeletons, 2 skeleton warriors) , pompous backstabbers (8 goblins) and weird merchants (8 zombies).
3. The Pipers of Scroon (
3 bards). Hairy-footed Ghouls wrapped in rags, tooting on silver pipes. Dealers in madness and distress.
4. Runesten Ruuld (
ghost) and his
tomb-delvers (
24 rotter zombies). Cannibalistic dead-eyed dwarves with bristling blood-stained beards.
5. Tuladha Oesthe and his
Saloon. Gracile, effete skinless ghouls that take
1d4 piercing damage if they move
more that 25ft during their turn )
6. Flame-Tongued Albarajaz (
flameskull) , the ghoul-djinn vizier and his
toxin-turbid undead Thanes (
8 nobles with undead creature type and deal
1d4 acid damage upon all attacks.).
7. Urg Underbarrow and the Bonebiter Tribe (
1 gnoll pack lord and
12 gnolls) - savage cannibal Hobbits.
8. Plarthan Xax (
vampiric mind flayer) - Vampiric squidman searching for the finest brains.
9. Moolo Poolo (
chuul) - epicurean diabolist Yoon-Suin lobster man, guarded by spear-wielding
Tako (2
kuo-toa harpooners).
10. The doleful crew of the
Grey Lady, led by
Sad Jack Rackam (
bandit captain), a despair-riddled band of barnacle encrusted undead pirates (
21 warrior skeletons) .
11.
Oberfurer Uwe Wagner (
wight) - occultist time-traveling Nazi and his
undead Kampfschwimmer crew (
8 bandits with undead creature type).
12. The vile and craven Wyzard
Boch Techt (
mage) of Lopi! He wishes to take the
Ark Of No Covenant for research and testing in the laboratory of
Lopi University.
13. Har’uuk Harmason (
bandit captain) and his vile brine-encrusted time-traveling
vikings (
bandits) from outer-space seek to destroy the ghoul city and steal the cup trophy!
14. Aralamir Arcanulus and his undead
acolytes (15
commoners) seek enlightenment as they travel the red-waves in search of their feathered master. They believe the wings of the cup trophy is the key to resurrecting their lord.
15. Gunnur Karvdich (1
wight) and the
hired thugs (8
skeletons) of the corrupt
Ghoul-Watch seek to destroy illegal undead sheltered in the ghoul-city in the name of the law like a zombified M.I.B agent/ghostbusteJudge Dredd.
16. The legendary dead-yet-undead
nuns of Mok (16
acolytes). They seek to steal the
Ark Of No Covenant for their own unholy god.
17. Wannabbe werewolf
Sven Svenstien (1
wererat) and his respectful, but slightly annoyed butlers (3
ghouls). They believe the blood of
Purk Paunduan is the key to their master’s ascension to god-hood.
18. Lost
tourists (32
zombie rotters) from a far off realm that they call ‘earth’, they were turned into rotting corpses in their strange vacation. They wish to see the infamous race.
19. A group of intergalactic
frogs (
kuo-toa) took a wrong turn somewhere along the line and crash-landed in the river. They believe the ruby embedded in the cup trophy is the key to refueling their ship.
20. The great
goose warriors (8
goblins and 4
goblin skulkers) of Lopi are always angry as they paint the color blue upon their wings.
Roll
d20 to determine a NPC that actively tries to get in the way of characters in order to achieve their goal.
Roll
d20 again, to determine a NPC that wants to kill the PCs. They stalk them and try to set traps.
Roll
d20 one last time, to determine an NPC who is indifferent to the PCs.
📷 AREA 1: STATUES
ENTERING FROM THE STEPS:The steps descend into a semi-anaerobic three tiered inverted ziggurat lined with about four dozen travertine statues that gaze at you with spiderwebbed red eyes. In the middle of the room a strange pit surrounded by large free standing mirrors descends into the dungeon. With a jolt you realize that the creators of this dungeon are attempting to drown the structure below you with light. Two corridors lead away, both upon the third tier of this room. In addition there is a wooden door upon the bottom. One of the statues is dripping with fat and has a goose mask crammed over its limestone physiography. TREASURE: The eyes are worth 1 gp each at a reliable middle-low class market, or 2 rations and a torch for 5 of them at the newt market.
ENTERING WHILE LEAVING THE DUNGEON: If the
stalkers are still alive, they are here.
If not, a
giant spider is here:
As you re-enter the strange statued ziggurat that is the first room of this dread place. you glimpse an immense black arachnoid body amongst the weird umbras of the limestone effigies, its stygian carapace gently ausculting in the bizarre blue light. It scuttles towards you, what do you do? AREA 2: DINOSAUR GRAFFITI
Roll a
d6, on a
6 the
stalkers are here if the players have not already fought them or talked to them.
ENTERING THE ROOM:The tight corridor leads you up a staircase and around a corner. You stumble into a sparse and dusty room, covered in strange images. An iron chain hangs from the ceiling WALKING FURTHER INTO THE ROOM: As you walk further into the room pictograms across the wall are of dinosaurs, and probably by dinosaurs too. You can tell by the clear use of claws, perhaps even tails, the inhuman angular marks, the alien color scheme and the fact some of the dinosaurs in the picturess are actually making pictures and the pictures they are making look like the glyphs they are in. There are four types, or subjects. One upon each wall. Upon the rightmost wall, the graffiti depicts dinosaurs going about daily acts. Frozen in particular segments of time, the moments you would only see in photographs, not with the naked eye, skipping, jumping, dancing, falling, tripping, running. Anything too fast for the eye to easily see. This is the present tense. The art upon the back wall is of people being eaten, chased and devoured by dinosaurs in a variety of ways. This is the past tense. Open the wall, dinosaurs stand heraldic and bloody over the bones and corpses of humans. This is the future tense. The frontal wall, which holds the door, features many eyes and tentacles flailing around in the darkness while miniature dinosaurs coated in blood pray. This is in a far looser art style than the other frieze and devolves into frantic scribblings in some sections. A large pit sits in the middle of the room. TREASURE: In a visage of dinosaurs praying to a dark dinosaur king upon a black throne lies a small key shaped niche, if
Armstrong Armlong’s pet parrot
Karakadaus Karamduas’s peculiar beak is inserted into and turned counterclockwise a small whir is heard and the cavity is opened.
As you open the small door you glimpse the pharaonic riches of a long dead nation, however you see not all of them are cloaked in dust. Inside are 50 platinum pieces (the trash halflings found this), a golden skull (the trash halflings found this, it used to be in
area 4), 50 rubies worth 10 gp each, several necklaces worth 5 gp each, 7 woven bags full of 1d4 dinosaur heads, ancient canopic jars, a
giant beetle named Rajeesh (who calls the treasure his own) and Purk Pananduan’s tramping gear in a small eel-skin backpack.
AREA 3: A THRONE?
Roll a
d6, on a
6 the PC’s
stalkers are here if the players have not already fought them or talked to them.
ENTERING THE ROOM:A large bloodspattered throne sits in the middle of this pentagonal room. Apart from a few cobwebs the limestone walls are bare. You can hear bursts of cackling coming from the other side of the room. WALKING FURTHER INTO THE ROOM: As you walk further into the room you see the corridor leads away into the darkness. INSPECTING THE THRONE: You can see the throne is cloaked in runes, at its top, you can see a circular indent where something used to sit, it appears to be recently removed as there is no dust. SITTING UPON THE THRONE: Any characters who sit upon the throne must make a
DC 15 constitution save or be knocked unconscious for 3 rounds. In addition, the trash halflings in
area 4, 1
trash halfling debaser (goblin whirlwind) and 4
trash halflings arrive the next round.
AREA 4: TRASH HALFLINGS
Roll a
d6, on a
5, the PC’s
stalkers or on a
6 the PCs
rivals are here if the players have not already fought them or talked to them.
ENTERING THE ROOM:The muddy room before you is covered in the waste of a thousand centuries, from out of the darkness you can hear high pitched screaming and laughter. A pseudo-arachnidian FREAK skitters past you upon all fours. WALKING FURTHER INTO THE ROOM: As you walk further into the room you see about a dozen halflings splattered in mud and trash prancing around a child sized newt, tied to a small wooden chair. “THE CHEESE!!! NOT THE CHEESE!!!! ANYTHING BUT THE CHEESE!!!” shrieks the newt as a masked, and particularly bulky halfling carrying a large platter upon which sits what appears to many varieties of artisan cheese. Behind the group you glimpse some stairs leading up to an enormous amount of light. There are 1 TRASH HALFLING DEBASER (
goblin whirlwind), 1
trash halfling (
goblin taunter) and 8
trash halflings ( goblins) in this room. They only disclose the location of the treasure in area 2 if Jjigglus Wigglus (in area 9) is with the characters, or if their life is in danger. They are willing to disclose the location of the baby tarrasque in area 6.
TREASURE: There are 50 gold pieces, 10 muddy +1 longswords, 15 +2 shortswords (worth 10 gp each) and 10 50 gp gemstones. It takes half a minute to find one item. This counts as difficult terrain for the PCs, but not for the Trash Halflings.
The newt, Park Pananduan (unarmed
bullywug) is happy to be saved, he tells the PCs the location of his brother (area 5)
AREA 5: SEPULCHER CAVE
This dusty room is covered in weird semi-phosphorescent purple fungi. In the middle of the room lie 4 giant stone graves, each with a carved visage of a dinosaur carrying a weapon. A blindfolded old newt with a rather hoorish top hat and suit is chained to one of the limestone coffins. The newt (
bullywug), Purk Pananduan speaks in a perfect french accent, although he has never gone to france. His weapons are in
area 2, although he does not know this information. It can help diplomacy between the newt-folk, but does not know the direction to get there.
TREASURE: One of the dead body’s in the coffin holds a
flute of prancing (when playing the flute you gain double movement speed, however you are 4 times as likely to attract wandering monsters. You cannot cast spells that require your mouth while playing the flute.) in their long dead hands. Another has a bone necklace worth 50 gp.
AREA 6: MIST FILLED CAVERN
Roll a
d6, on a
6, the PC’s
rivals are here if the players have not already fought them or talked to them.
The room before you is filled with a light smokey mist. Ahead you can hear a loud snoring noise. WALKING FURTHER INTO THE ROOM: As you walk into the room, you see some small stone steps leading up in the direction of the cacophony. AREA 7: COATED IN BLOOD
The small sulfur smelling rectangular room before you seems oddly dark. You see a giant osculating shape in the shadows ahead of you. Many bones litter the floor. WALKING FURTHER INTO THE ROOM: As you walk further into the room, you see that the room is coated in sticky dried blood, which makes moving considerably harder. The blood counts as essentially difficult terrain for the PCs, but not the tarrasque. However PC’s can walk up to their full speed, but if they do they run the risk of falling prone, which wakes the tarrasque. The DC against falling prone is 10+ the number of feet the PC is moving above half their speed. There is a baby tarrasque (
allosaurus) in this room.
THE TARRASQUE WAKES: The monstrous thing wakes. It stares at you with red, blank eyes. Finally it stands. A great serpentine freak, 16 ft tall. With a tremor, you realize that this is only a child, and moves as such, in the way an infant does when it has only just taken its first few steps. It terrifies you to think what an adult of this species would look like. TREASURE: There are 50 gp, 2 rusty +1 shortswords (worth 2 gp each) and 2 gold circlets (worth 10 gp each) scattered around the room.
AREA 8: CANOPIC GUARDS l
7
animated armor are in this room. 2 guard the conveyor belt. 2 in the middle of the room. 2 by the door. If more than 15 damage (except psychic or necrotic) is dealt in a round to a single animated armor, then a number of canopic jars attached to their body smash equal to the amount of damage dealt (except psychic or necrotic) to it that round divided by 10.
This room is cut into two parts, a lobby with a large stone chain running through its center and an elevated platform holding a giant piece of machinery. Huge and shaped like a slice of cake running east-west, fatter at the wheel-end. From 12 to 25 meters high. Dominated by a gigantic wheel of iron almost 13 meters across, poised on two axes of natural rock, reinforced with adamantium. The chain is made of etched titanium, each link half the size of a human. Whatever forged them left strange multi-coloured bleeds and waves upon each link, they shimmer underneath the dust and wear. There are tiny imperceptible shifting’s of the chain. Metallic squeals and echoes drift up out of the dark like distant birdsong. A slight breeze flows. From the wheel runs a band made from the skin of some gigantic beast, flayed, folded and reinforced. This leather band connects to a second wheel, twice human-size, possibly intended to be turned by slaves. 6 humanoid statues made of canopic jars and caring clubs stand guard over the dormant machine. Roll a
d6 when necessary.
# symbol holds and when smashed 1
A Sun
Heart
A strange blue liquid
A gush of old, but upsetting, blood.
2
An Ear of Wheat
Stomach
A pile of ash
Burst of acid, 1d4 acid damage, 3ft radius.
3
Mouth
Kidney
50 gp
A scream in an ancient tongue*
4
Spiral
Intestine
Two
stirges Pickled guts escape and try to constrict as
boa constrictor. 5
Eye of Horus
Brain & Eyes
Roll again upon the
holds table Releases 1hp floating brain (ac 5) with eyes shooting beams of Paralysis (1d4 psychic damage and DC 15 or paralyzed) and Regret 1d8 psychic).
6
Bat
Fingers
A semi-sentient lobster named Frank who demands food and drink
A burst of cosmic energy, DC 15 or fall prone.
*The screams are in an ancient version of common. Roll a
d12 # phrase 1
Back to your prison of starvation and white stone!
2
The end at last, and finally, to sleep.
3
My duty now failed at the last watch.
4
I failed my lord in life, and now in death.
5
The treasure! Sword and key must not be lost.
6
You will be driven back into the earth where you belong!
7
May the Optical God rip out your eyes!
8
Fall now, follower of the Kyriarch!
9
Curse flesh and time, all aspects made to fail…
10
I stood beside the Pharaoh as he died!
11
God save Lord Ambatoharanana!
12
Die now, creature of silence and slow time.
There are four exits;
A. A round hole right in the center of the space, 5 feet wide and easily accessible.
B. On the ground floor a large passage leading east.
C. On the top west side is an archway. The passage is blocked by the coils of an enormous smiling adamantine snake whose head is dead-center in the door. The snake cannot be harmed or compelled. If any living thing comes close to the snake's head its mouth opens slightly and its smile widens. If a living, intelligent, named person is fed to the snake its coils unknot and allow access. There is no other way through. No toll is required from the other side.
D. On the top west side is an open passage. There are four huge steps on each side of the room. Each step is at least three meters high. On each level of the room, on either side, is a row of five naked humanoid statues, arranged east-west across the room. Each level of the room has one word of activation. If the word is spoken, the row of statues crouch, bend, bow, and nod to make a set of living stairs leading up the steps. If anyone tries
AREA 9: THE SLAVE CAVERNS
The passages down have crudely cut steps. Each is long, low with the ghost of a terrible scent. The floors have bones and ancient corpses, sleeping areas and carved shelves of humanoid size.
A. Hidden in this cave is an unbelievably
ancient man kept hideously alive by a dark device. More like a skeleton with skin than a man, he has no name, and is only known as Number 538. He has been here for a thousand years. The device keeping him alive is a set of stocks set in an adamantium plank; this is the Razored Lock. The grips around his neck and wrists are set with razors that cut his skin with every movement he makes. Each cut imbues a sliver of magical life. The person wearing the Razored Lock can never fully die. The sizes of the locks adjust to the wearer so they can never be escaped. His starvation and madness could both be cured with strong enough magic. He speaks an ancient language that no one understands. If you can free him, heal him, and understand him, he can tell you a great deal about the observatory
B. Whipsilk - 10 per bale. Silk given as a status symbol to slaves broken or evil enough to be appointed overseers over their fellow slaves without immediate supervision. An illusory boon. The silk carries the cultural taint of alien flesh and AelfAdal will never touch it once it has been used. (Any Aelf-Adal seeing you wearing this will assume you to be a slave overseer and deliberately not notice you.)
C. Mushroom Fools. In the darkness at the back of this cave, growing upside down from the roof, are barky wizened mushroom men. 1d6 dehydrated
myconids (as per MM), shriveled and desiccated. They sleep and can be revived by water. They are idiots who mis-understand everything they hear, always do the opposite of what you intend and ejaculate spores over everyone when distressed
. D. This room has a hidden spot. Rocks of calcite have been carefully carved over time and layered to provide a
secret space, about 3 ft square at the back of the room. Inside are treasures only slaves would value: the remains of food, bits of wire to act as keys, broken tools, and chunks of broken blades.
E. Empty room. F. The Gravity Knife. A simple trap door embossed with the image of a gaping circular mouth, activated from the watching room above. This was used as a cheap method of execution. The chain below is set so falling slaves can sometimes grab hold on the way down. There is no way to climb back up. It’s only purpose was to provide amusement for those watching from the bridge
.